BackgroundBeing overweight and obese are major risk factors for noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases. The prevalence of overweight and obesity is high throughout the world and these issues are very serious in the Shunyi District in China. As mobile technologies have rapidly developed, mobile apps such as WeChat are well accepted and have the potential to improve health behaviors.ObjectiveThis study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile app (WeChat) as an intervention on weight loss behavior.MethodsThis study was conducted among an occupational population from August 2015 to February 2016 in the Shunyi District of Beijing. Before the intervention, the Shunyi District Government released an official document for weight loss to all 134 government agencies and enterprises in Shunyi District. Participants willing to use our official WeChat account were enrolled in a WeChat group and received 6 months of interventions for weight loss; those who were not willing to use the account were in a control group given routine publicity on weight loss.ResultsIn total, 15,310 occupational participants including 3467 participants (22.65%) in the control group and 11,843 participants (77.35%) in the WeChat group were enrolled. Participants in the WeChat group lost more weight (mean 2.09, SD 3.43 kg) than people in the control group (mean 1.78, SD 2.96 kg), and the difference in mean weight loss between the two groups for males was significant based on the stratification of age and educational level. To control for confounding factors and to explore the effects of WeChat on weight loss, the propensity score method with a multinominal logistic regression was utilized. For males, this showed that the WeChat group (with both active and inactive subgroups) had a higher probability of maintaining weight, weight loss from 1 to 2 kg, or weight loss more than 2 kg than the control group. However, the control group had higher probability of weight loss from 0 to 1 kg. Being active in WeChat was likely to be associated with weight loss. The more active participants were in the weight loss program via WeChat, the more weight they lost.ConclusionsThe weight loss intervention campaign based on an official WeChat account focused on an occupation-based population in Shunyi District was effective for males. The more active male participants were in using WeChat, the more weight they lost. There might be no effect or there may even be a negative effect on weight loss for females. Future research should focus on how to improve adherence to the WeChat weight loss interventions, to improve and refine the WeChat content such as developing a variety of materials to attract interest, and to protect personal privacy, especially for females.

The effect of industrial noise on the prevalence of hypertension was studied in a group of 1101 female workers in a textile mill in Beijing in 1985. Essentially the entire group had worked in specific workshops in this mill for all their working lives and all had worked for at least five years. The noise levels within the plant were assessed and appear to have been constant since 1954 resulting in well defined noise exposures for these workers. A cross sectional design was used in which blood pressures were determined and questionnaires administered to the workers over a two month period. As well as demographic information, data were gathered on personal and family history of hypertension, current use of prescription drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and salt in the diet. Logistic regression indicated that exposure to noise is a significant determinant of prevalence of hypertension, but third in order ofimportance behind family history of hypertension and use of salt. Each of the predictor variables exerted an independent influence on risk of hypertension. Cumulative exposure to noise was not an important dose related variable suggesting that, for those susceptible to the effect, hypertension was manifested within the first five years of exposure. Materials and methodsThe subjects were 1101 female workers in a textile mill in Beijing. Each had worked in a single workshop in this mill for essentially their entire working life. All had been employed in the mill for at least five years. The workshops from which the subjects were drawn

These findings suggest that the inability to blink completely induced by CN VII palsy for more than one week might contribute to the development of MGD. Clinical optimization of blinking may ameliorate MGD symptom and benefit CN VII palsy patients.

PurposeTo investigate the clinical features and cytochrome P450 family 4 subfamily V polypeptide 2 (CYP4V2) gene mutations in 14 Chinese families with Bietti crystalline dystrophy (BCD).MethodsSeventeen patients from 14 unrelated Chinese families with BCD were recruited for complete clinical ophthalmic examination and genetic study. The 11 exons of CYP4V2 were amplified from genomic DNA of all patients and their family members by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and then sequenced. Exons of TIMP3 were also sequenced in BCD patient associated with choroidal neovascularization (CNV). One hundred and seventy unrelated healthy Chinese subjects were screened for mutations in CYP4V2.ResultsAll 17 patients with BCD had mutations in CYP4V2; one of these mutations was novel (c.219T>A, p.F73L) and four other mutations had been reported. The p.F73L mutation was a commonly detected mutation in our study (seven out of 34 alleles), either in the homozygous state or in the heterozygous state. Among the patients, considerable phenotypic variability was detected, both within and between families. Screening of TIMP3 did not find any mutation in the BCD patient associated with CNV.ConclusionThe novel CYP4V2 c.219T>A (p.F73L) mutation may be another recurrent mutation in Chinese patients with BCD. Our study expands the mutation spectrum of CYP4V2 and characterizes novel genotype–phenotype associations in Chinese patients with BCD.

BackgroundIndividuals with prehypertension are at higher risk of developing hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, while the interaction between factors may aggravate prehypertension risk. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the risk factors for prehypertension in Chinese middle-aged and elderly adults, and explore the potentially interactive effect of evaluated factors.MethodsAll the participants that came from a community based cross-sectional survey were investigated in Bengbu, China, by being interviewed with a questionnaire. Body mass index (BMI), Waist circumference (WC) and lipid accumulation product (LAP) that reflect participants’ obesity were also calculated. In addition, logistic regression model was applied to explore the risk factors of prehypertension, followed by the assessment of the interactive effects between risk factors on prehypertension by the relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI), attributable proportion due to interaction (AP) and synergy index (SI).ResultsA total of 1777 participants were enrolled in this study, among which the prevalence of normtension, prehypertension and hypertension were 41.70%, 33.93% and 24.37% respectively. According to the multivariate logistic regression analysis, age (OR: 1.01, 95%CI: 1.00–1.02), smoking (OR: 1.67, 95%CI: 1.22–2.29), family history of cardiovascular diseases (OR: 1.52, 95%CI: 1.14–2.02), general obesity (OR: 1.51, 95%CI: 1.15–1.97) and LAP (OR: 2.58, 95%CI: 1.76–3.80) were all defined as the major factors that significantly related with the risk of prehypertension. When identifying prehypertension risk, the receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) curves (AUC) analysis indicated that LAP performed better than BMI in males (Z = 2.05, P = 0.03) and females (Z = 2.12, P = 0.03), but was superior to WC only in females (Z = 2.43, P = 0.01). What is more, there were significant interactive effects of LAP with family history of cardiovascular diseases (RERI: 1.88, 95%CI: 0.25–3.51; AP: 0.44, 95%CI: 0.20–0.69; SI: 2.37, 95%CI: 1.22–4.60) and smoking (RERI: 1.99, 95%CI: 0.04–3.93; AP: 0.42, 95%CI: 0.17–0.67; SI: 2.16, 95%CI: 1.68–4.00) on prehypertension risk. The value of AP (0.40, 95%CI: 0.03–0.77) also indicated a significant interaction between family history of cardiovascular diseases and smoking on prehypertension.ConclusionPrehypertension is currently prevalent in Chinese adults. This study indicated that age, family history of cardiovascular diseases, smoking, general obesity and LAP were significantly related with prehypertension risk. Furthermore, interactive effects on risk of prehypertension had been demonstrated in this study as well, which would help researchers to build strategy against prehypertension more comprehensively and scientifically.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12872-018-0917-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is the second leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Increased endothelin-1 (ET-1) has been observed in aqueous humour (AH) of POAG patients, resulting in an increase in the out-flow resistance of the AH. However, the underlining mechanisms remain elusive. Using established in vivo and in vitro POAG models, we demonstrated that water channel Aquaporin 1 (AQP1) is down-regulated in trabecular meshwork (TM) cells upon ET-1 exposure, which causes a series of glaucomatous changes, including actin fibre reorganization, collagen production, extracellular matrix deposition and contractility alteration of TM cells. Ectopic expression of AQP1 can reverse ET-1-induced TM tissue remodelling, which requires the presence of β-catenin. More importantly, we found that ET-1-induced AQP1 suppression is mediated by ATF4, a transcription factor of the unfolded protein response, which binds to the promoter of AQP1 and negatively regulates AQP1 transcription. Thus, we discovered a novel function of ATF4 in controlling the process of TM remodelling in ET-1-induced POAG through transcription suppression of AQP1. Our findings also detail a novel pathological mechanism and a potential therapeutic target for POAG.

The rapid development of wearable bio-sensing techniques has made it possible to continuously record neurophysiological signals in naturalistic scenarios such as the classroom. The present study aims to explore the neurophysiological correlates of middle-school students’ academic performance. The electrodermal signals (EDAs) and heart rates (HRs) were collected via wristband from 100 Grade seven students during their daily Chinese and math classes for 10 days in 2 weeks. Significant correlations were found between the academic performance as reflected by the students’ final exam scores and the EDA responses. Further regression analyses revealed significant prediction of the academic performance mainly by the transient EDA responses (R2 = 0.083, p < 0.05, with Chinese classes only; R2 = 0.030, p < 0.05, with both Chinese and math classes included). By combining the self-report data about session-based general statuses and the neurophysiological data, the explained powers of the regression models were further improved (R2 = 0.095, p < 0.05, with Chinese classes only; R2 = 0.057, p < 0.05, with both Chinese and math classes included), and the neurophysiological data were shown to have independent contributions to the regression models. In addition, the regression models became non-significant by exchanging the academic performances of the Chinese and math classes as the dependent variables, suggesting at least partly distinct neurophysiological responses for the two types of classes. Our findings provide evidences supporting the feasibility of predicting educational outputs by wearable neurophysiological recordings.

ObjectivesLipid accumulation product (LAP) is a simple and effective indicator that reflects visceral obesity. This study aimed to compare the significance of LAP in predicting hypertension risk with other obesity indices, and to evaluate the interactive effects of LAP and smoking, family history of hypertension on hypertension risk in Chinese Han adults.MethodsA community based cross-sectional study was performed in Bengbu, China. Participants received face-to-face questionnaire survey, anthropometric tests and laboratory examinations. Relevant indicators that reflect obesity including BMI (body mass index), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and LAP were calculated. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was applied to explore the association between LAP and hypertension risk. The area under the receiver-operating characteristics curves (AUC) of LAP, BMI, and WHtR were calculated and then compared. Interactive effect was evaluated by relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI), attributable proportion due to interaction (AP) and synergy index (SI).ResultsA total of 1777 participants were enrolled, and the prevalence of hypertension was 24.4% (n = 433). There was a significant increase in hypertension risk with LAP levels in the fourth quartile as compared with the bottom quartile (OR: 3.31, 95%CI: 1.76–6.25). The AUC of LAP was significantly different than that of BMI in males (Z = 2.158, p = 0.0309) and females (Z = 3.570, p = 0.0004), while only performed better in females as compared with that of WHtR (Z = 2.166, p = 0.0303). LAP was significantly interacted with family history of hypertension on hypertension risk both in males (RERI: 1.07, 95%CI: 0.09–2.05; AP: 0.33, 95%CI: 0.23–0.44; SI: 1.92, 95%CI: 1.53–2.41) and females (RERI: 0.80, 95%CI: 0.07–1.53; AP: 0.25, 95%CI: 0.11–0.39; SI: 1.59, 95%CI: 1.16–2.19). However, a significant interaction between LAP and smoking was only observed in males (RERI: 1.32, 95%CI: 0.15–2.75; AP: 0.40, 95% CI: 0.14–0.73).ConclusionIncreased LAP was significantly associated with a higher risk of hypertension in Chinese Han adults. Moreover, the effect of LAP on predicting hypertension risk was better than that of other obesity indices. Our results also demonstrated interactive effects of LAP with smoking, family history of hypertension on hypertension risk.